Today at 6:00 we’ll be having a quartet here rehearsing a couple of pieces. I figure 6:00-8:00 should be okay. I do hope so! (Besides, the neighbor who will get the brunt of the “noise” once commented on the oboe and said he enjoyed it. Yes, he recognized an oboe!) But musicians do have to take care … we have to be aware of neighbors and certainly if you share walls with other people you have to practice at “decent” hours. But I just read this article and I can’t believe someone would have complained after watching the video clip. What a pain.

I would love to move. I want a place with no yard. A condo would be good, but I know that would be unreasonable; I would still want to teach my students. So I am well aware that, should we move, I’d still probably need a house. But I wonder if even a house could have its problems. If a neighbor hates oboe or classical music, I’m sort of sunk, yes?

Have any readers had issues with their music noise?

(I’d love it if someone would deal with the people who think incredibly noisy motorcycles are okay, and wake me any all hours of the night with the darn things. Sigh.)

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I’ve had issues. Around 10 or so years ago I was performing the Mozart Requiem. It was my first time doing it, and so I needed extra rehearsal time at home to learn it. I didn’t have a piano at the time, so the most effective way for me to practice was just to play a recording and sing along. I got to the Dies Irae, and there came a stomping from my upstairs neighbor like I had never heard before. Granted, I was playing it a bit on the loud side, but it was 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon – I figured I was safe. She actually came downstairs to tell me that I had awakened her from a nap. I’m not sure how I could have known she was sleeping at 4:00 on a Saturday. I was gracious, however, and told her I’d turn down the volume, but I still needed to practice. Back then I was more self-conscious about people hearing me sing, so I probably did have the CD playing louder than it needed to.

My current upstairs neighbors have stomped a couple of times. But they tend to have knock-down drag-out fights, and they’re lucky I’ve never called the cops. So if they ever complain in person about having to hear bits and pieces of an aria or show tune, that’s exactly what I’ll tell them.

This is why you don’t want to move into a condo. A townhome would work, if you have an end unit. That way there’s nobody above or below you, and you can practice against the non-shared wall.

A friend who tap dances is lucky enough to have a condo with a garage, so she does her dancing out there on a plastic surface (one of those office chair mats).